Blog Archives
Top 5 Tim Burton Films – coregeek retrospective
Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows opened on Friday. Given the mixed reviews, tepid box office take and general reactions such as this, I’m re-posting this article which I wrote before the release of Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in 2010.
Beetle Juice
Macabre madness in a comedy where the phenomenal Michael Keaton (as Beetlejuice) steals the show from a very talented cast including: Catherine O’Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis. Beetle Juice is delicious mix of weirdness and laughs. A true cult classic.
Batman
Face it, comic based movies were a joke before 1989′s Batman. Burton ushered in a whole new wave of what comic based films could aspire to. Keaton proved to the world he was worthy of the cape. Nicholson turned in the performance of his career. Bassinger was gorgeous.
Ed Wood
Probably Burton’s most zany, yet a compelling drama at the same time. Depp and Landau were wonderful together. Is it the truth? Who knows, who cares? It’s a truly a celebration of what made Wood so captivating as the “worst director of all time.”
Edward Scissorhands
Sublimely eccentric fable about a boy with scissors for hands who falls for a girl. Laughs and tears ensue with a heartfelt bittersweet ending. Really? Could anyone else but Burton have made this film?
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Okay, okay, yes technically it isn’t a Burton film but he created the characters, wrote the story and served as executive producer. Nevertheless TNBC it quintessential Burton. Filled with quirky, funny and lovable characters (who aren’t always what they seem on the outside), great music and wonderfully designed sets in a world full of scares, charm and even life lessons to be learned. What’s not to love?
Agree? Disagree? Hit me back in the comments.
Macgo – Mac Blu-ray Player – mac news
If you’ve been waiting for Blu-ray playback on OS X your wait is finally over. Macgo for OS X (and Windows) is being touted as “the first and best Blu-ray player for Mac.” All I can say is, it’s about frakking time. Grab yourself an external drive, download the software (on sale now for $39.95 or 3 month trial for free) and enjoy spinning the forbidden blu fruit on your Mac.
Star Wars on Blu-ray: Amazon pre-order
As announced a few days ago all 6 Star Wars films are coming on Blu-ray in September. Amazon is already taking pre-orders for this highly anticipated Blu-ray release. Fortunately Lucasfilm is playing nice: “The complete six-movie saga is available in one boxed set of nine Blu-ray discs, plus the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy each are available as three-disc sets.”
Amazon is also offering price guarantee with this pre-order: “Order now and if the Amazon.com price decreases between your order time and the end of the day of the release date, you’ll receive the lowest price.” Follow the direct links below to get yours ordered today.
["Star Wars: The Complete Saga" Blu-ray]
The Goonies – 25 years – Bluray released
From: GeekDad
“Tuesday, November 2nd was a day of monumental importance for many Americans. No, not because of the elections — rather, it marked the release of The Goonies 25th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray and DVD.
In anticipation of this most sacred arrival, a special press event was held late last month at the Warner Bros. lot. A number of the original film’s cast and crew members were in attendance including notables like Corey Feldman, Jeff Cohen, Ke Wuan and Richard Donner…”
I have to admit this one kind of slipped by me. I’ll have to get the order going so I can give the Blu-ray a proper coregeek review. ‘The Gooines’ after all, champion the geek in all of us! Now if I could just get my childhood friend to return me the pristine, original (3′x5′), Goonies movie poster I LOANED her 25 years ago all would be right in the world.
District B13 Ultimatum – Netflix Find – Review
Back in March I gave a favorable review to the original District B13. I was happy to learn that a sequel District B13 Ultimatum was released on Blu-ray/DVD earlier this year. The film picks up 3 years later. David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli reprise their original roles of Leito and Damien.
Plot Synopsis from Wikipedia:
“Three years after the events of the original film, the authorities are attempting to return law and order to ravaged District 13. The death of gang overlord Taha Bemamud has left a power vacuum, and total control of the area is now being fought over by five rival territorial gang lords who want to step into Taha’s position. Damien and Leito return to District 13 on a mission to bring peace to the troubled sector before the secret services of Paris take drastic measures to solve the problem.”
This type of action film relies on two things: charismatic lead actors and exciting fights. Fortunately, both of those ingredients carry over from the first installment. Belle and Raffeelli are in top form here and continue to amaze with their physical agility. The plot is decent enough for all of the action to be strung together in a coherent manner although I will say it’s a bit unbelievable. You could probably say the same for the first film too. A highlight for me was Raffeelli’s fight inside the night club where he both wields and protects a van Gogh painting.
Bottom Line: It’s all about the fights. Not as much Parkour this time around although things were exiting enough to hold my attention for the full running time.
Rated R available on: Blu-ray, DVD.
Note: District B13 Ultimatum is a French production so the film is subtitled. There is an English dub track for those interested. I personally find dubs to be distracting and prefer subtitles.
